Zenith & The Dark Gods: Book I: The Summoning Dance
Chapter 1: I am attacked by a rhinoceros.
hi. I'm Zenith. I have one thing to say about this book. don't read to the end. the ending was the most ridiculous ending of endings that no one ever would have suspected. my life really started to go wrong when I was 15, when I blew up a sacred temple. it was a normal day, but I was struggling to hide my powers. my friends had suspected that I was magic, because I had backflipped and slid through the legs of one of the teachers during our game of tag. that is not standard teenager behavior. that's how I found myself being hunted across the schoolyard, being chased by 50 angry 7th-graders. I was hiding behind a rock, waiting for them to find me. I held my breath as I heard a group of the kids walk up to a rock to discuss how to find me. "where is that maniac?" said a furious voice. "no idea, but he couldn't have gotten far." said the irritated voice of a guy I knew. I sucked in my breath. it was Arkyr – a cunning mastermind who ran this hunt and ruled with an iron mind. he was the smartest kid I knew. I felt a spike of anger. how dare they hunt me! I was normal! well, except for my secret abilities. I decided to trick them. I leapt out from behind my rock, and yelled, "you want me? well, you're going to have to try harder than this." "it's the traitor! get him!" yelled Arkyr. I sprinted away as fast as my abilities would let me. Arkyr held up a whistle, blew it, and tore after me. I somersaulted over a rock, took a sharp turn, and slid down a hillside. two kids leapt out from behind a rock. I slid into their feet, tripping them. I rolled onto my feet, and rolled down a hill. I barreled into the legs of 10 kids, took a sharp turn, and jumped off a boulder. one of the guardians saw me, took out a staff, and morphed into a rhinoceros. you're probably wondering why there are wizards and wide open spaces in this school. this was a magic school focused on Nature Mana. my powers were forbidden and punishable by death. so I had an entire clade of magic-wielding crazy teachers on my tail. so, anyway. back to the horned megafauna. I somersaulted, using its head like a springboard, and slid into the wizards. I rolled onto my feet and sprang away before the wizards could grab me. a wizard fired a blast that smelled like fresh air and leaves. I leapt out of the way. the blast cannoned onward, though, finally exploding and destroying the temple to the nature gods. the wizards glared at me. I shrugged. they then fired all their magic at me, probably exhausting all their reserves in the process. I dodged homing missiles and nature tornados. just then, I heard a thunderous roar. I turned. a giant Leonin warrior was roaring, banging his axes together. someone behind me answered his call. I turned. a human with the largest axe was holding it up to the sky, roaring. a fireball exploded behind me. a Tiefling was raising a staff and chanting. wizards started falling in front of my eyes. a rogue wrapped in shadowy clothes was striking wizards down. suddenly, the sun shined so bright that it burned the wizards' eyes out of their sockets. a wizard was generating a miniature sun, blazing and furious. my mysterious saviors landed in front of me. "we are The Order Of Brilliance. we have come to rescue you," said the Leonin. "I'm Pyxathor. this is Tetsuo," he said, nodding to the wizard. "this is Grim." he pointed to the giant axe guy. "and this is Akta," he said, nodding to the Tiefling. "thanks, but I have this situation under control," I said. I was genuinely angry. these heroes act like they saved the day, but in fact, I was totally handling the situation. the wizards were starting to recover. they were starting to inch forward, getting bolder by the second. "see ya, suckers!" I said, somersaulting away and twisting off rocks. "he's the elemental master of... Reflex?" I heard the lion man say. he sighed. "guess we better run after him." he took off, trying to catch up to me.
Chapter 2: I Get The Grand Prize Of Being Walloped.
I slalomed between houses and backflipped off of trash cans. I heard the lion man – Pyxathor? was that his name? – calling out to me, "hey, kid, we just want to help!" "sorry," I said. "I don't do help." I jumped up the houses and landed on the roof. there, I was met by a strange entity. a wisp of yellow light, hovering in front of me. "my son," the wisp said. "dad..." I slowly began to deflate. my dad had died on a wilderness expansion adventure. one of his colleagues had attacked him. he'd survived, but he was gravely wounded. he hadn't made it out. the explorer who had come to our house had said that there had been a hole in the traitor's back. no one had known what made it. the weird thing was that the wound had been smoking when they found him. but now, I had a suspicion. maybe he was the elemental master of Reflex. and now I had inherited his powers. the wisp dispersed into a humanoid shape, with a smiling face and bright, darting eyes. he said, "I'm proud of you, dude. you managed to hold off an entire clade of wizards after you kept your powers secret for 3 years. I couldn't have done that." "eh," I said, "it was more like a game of deadly keep away. my powers have been a lot of help." I brushed my wavy blond hair away from my eyes. "don't rely on your powers too much," my dad's will-'o-wisp said. "they help a lot, but they could be taken away at any moment." "how?" I asked. "I've had my powers taken away on an infinite number of occasions. usually by people who don't like me," my dad said. "I came here to give you something. a sword. a sword sharp enough to shatter reality, and change the realms forever." my dad turned back into a ball of light and swirled around a patch of air, creating a small tornado. when he was done, a gleaming red sword was hovering in the air. I walked forward and took it. I studied the blade. the whole sword was made of a crimson red crystal, polished down to the tip. it had two wickedly sharp edges, so sharp that I couldn't even see them. "this sword," my dad said, "is the Reflex Blade. it bears an edge so sharp that it will cut through anything. it's made of Reflex Diamond, a rare mineral that is only found in the Reflex Realm. now, go, son. the druids have sent their strongest member to hinder you. a mighty behemoth capable of changing at will. he is the elemental master of Size. he will stop at nothing to destroy you." I heard my "allies" – let's call them that – screaming at me. "Kid, we have to go!" roared Pyxathor. I heard the sound of steel grating on armor, followed by a high-pitched scream. "that must be Tetsuo!" I shouted. I had only known the wizard for a few minutes, and I was already feeling neutral about him. "I have to help!" I started forward. "wait, son. there is something I must tell you. the druids have sent another warrior to hunt you; the master of metal." "okay, bye!" I jumped off the roof and landed on the ground. Tetsuo was lying on the floor, blood trickling from a wound in his sternum. Pyxathor and Grim were hacking at a figure wielding dual swords, clad in metal. the warrior's armor was not taking any hits; it wasn't even denting. the figure just stood there. he was glowing. "hit the deck!" I yelled, and dove behind a trash bin. thankfully, Pyxathor and Grim understood. they leapt behind the bin with me just as I felt the ground shake. I heard metal tearing. I looked up. the figure had exploded with swords, flinging them in all directions. three swords had pierced the bin with the force of cannon balls. a sword was quivering above each of our heads. I leapt out from my hiding place. what happened next was pure chance. I felt some instinct. I threw my sword, imbuing it with my elemental power. the sword flew towards the figure with deadly accuracy, slashing him with the tip. the figure flew backwards and slammed into the wall, and I knew that his bones were broken. Tetsuo and Akta were cowering behind magical shields, but at the sound of the figure slamming into the wall, they put down their shields and walked towards the figure. we gathered around the fallen figure. "uhh..." the figure said. "why does it hurt? why does it BURN? I tried to hunt the boy-athlete, but the boy hunted me. no matter. the big one will be here soon. and I still have a job to do." the figure put up a magical shield. the figure started to turn white-hot. my elemental reflexes told me to start running and not to stop until I reached Canada. "RUN!" I screamed. I jumped up and onto the roof. I took off. I looked back and I saw a wave of flame and steel racing across the roof. I jumped off the roof. the explosion sailed over my head. as soon as I thought it was safe, I jumped back on the roof and tore across the rooftops. I feared for the worst as I reached the blast zone. I jumped down. a magical shield was failing, and the bodies of Tetsuo and Akta were slumped across the pavement. pyxathor and grim were unconscious, but alive. Akta and Tetsuo, though, were dead. I didn't know what to do. that's when my dad's wisp appeared in front of me. "hey, dude," he said. "I'm thinking of doing this hot "exploded neighborhood" look for my house back in the land of the dead, in case you wanted to come over." "the land of the dead?" I asked. "yeah, it's the place where you go when you die. it's pretty cool. it's also called Valhalla." "do you think my friends will be there?" I asked. "yeah, everyone gets there eventually." "well, then what are we waiting for? we're taking a trip to the afterlife."
Chapter 3: We Take Deadly Airways... To Valhalla
when Pyxathor and Grim awoke, I told them about the plan. I also introduced them to my dad, who possessed the body of a warrior that the druids sent after us. "so, how are we going to get to Valhalla?" asked Pyxathor after I had outlined our plan. "with this." I held up the Reflex Blade. a few hours later, we were ready. Akta started chanting. I played a Sami drum. Pyxathor and Grim danced. "I have come this far, and still remember, even though I would like to forget. consequences of my choice caught up to me. as the prophecy fulfilled, I yearn. nothingness, nothing around me. nothingness, nothing around me. it returns over and over. I still have the taste of salt on my lips. oh my Lethe, river of forgetfulness. let me soothe my soul, erase my sins. I'm silently drowning among your tears. silently falling into your grief." as I sang, pyxathor stomped his feet, shaking his mane and making wild, undulating noises. "I am silently drowning among your waves. silently falling into your breath. let me pretend I am born again." as I sang, pyxathor and grim danced around the runic diamond we had made; the words einherjar, Valhalla, Oðinn, and Valkyrie written over and over again. the runes began to glow. I felt my atoms tingling, beginning to fade. the diamond turned into a portal, and we were sucked in. I awoke in midair. I was falling so fast that I began to realize that if I hit those rocks below me, I would probably die from the speed we were going before I hit the ground. I twisted in midair, using my reflexes to twist towards a stalagmite shaped like a claw. my brain was going faster than my body was, and that was what saved me. I dove towards my friends, tackling them, pivoting on the air like it was a horizontal bar. I dove towards the stalagmite. I realized that I was still going too fast; at least a thousand miles an hour. I would probably vaporize in a streak of plasma on the crest of the rock. I woke my friends and told them the plan. the conversation must have lasted a nanosecond. we liked arms, and I used Reflex to spin us so fast that we slowed our fall a bit, but it wouldn't be enough. we then made a straight line out of our bodies. I used my reflexes to spin our bodies so that we would bounce off the rock. and then we hit the ground. as I predicted, we bounced off the rock and flew into the atmosphere. we separated and spread our arms and legs out like a gaggle of deranged skydivers. I saw a flash of red out of the corner of my eye, and I saw a red sphere rolling extremely fast towards the claw stalagmite. the red sphere rolled directly below us and caught us. that was when I realized that I was being held by a boulder with arms and legs. I groaned and threw up. "my goodness!" said the boulder. "you took quite a fall there, lad. it's a miracle that I caught you. I am Κατολιστηισι. in your language, that's Rockslide." the boulder man puffed out his chest. "I am the elemental master of Spin!" "what are you?" I asked. "I am a Cragling! a member of the proud Cragling tribe!" the cragling set us down. "you know, Rockslide, I think we could come to an agreement. how about we supply you with that blue substance that you eat in exchange for pulling us around." "how would I do that?" asked Rockslide. "let me think about that." I walked around the area for a while. I soon found the remains of a metal contraption; a helicopter, perhaps. a sizzling spark of an idea jolted through me. I came back and told everyone about the plan. just as we were about to start the plan, the ground rumbled. I felt elemental energy being used. I climbed over some boulders and saw the most bizarre battle happening. a giant was facing off against an orange snakefolk with a green crest. the giant was swinging his club, but every time he tried, a shockwave would originate from a boulder nearby, pushing the giant away again. I felt a lump forming in my throat. that snakefolk was the only one with a green crest. and that meant that the person battling the giant was Frak, my brother. and those shockwaves meant that he was the master of Quake.
Chapter 4: I Get Revenge For A Snake
I couldn't believe it. what was Frak doing in Valhalla? he couldn't be dead; he was still flesh and blood. but that didn't matter; what mattered was saving Frak. he couldn't handle a giant on his own. I screamed, "REFLEX!" and charged into battle. I threw my sword. the red blade struck the giant's arm, burning a deep gash into it. Frak looked up. "Zenith!? what are you doing here? stay back!" "sorry, bro. no can do." I somersaulted onto the giant's back and plunged my sword in between his shoulder blades. the giant roared and arced his back. I slashed again and again at the giant's back, each strike going deeper than the last. I jumped high, and brought my sword down with all my might. the second before I struck, I realized that I was glowing. uh-oh, I thought. my slash produced a sound like a sonic boom; the giant was flung away from me. he landed on the ground, only to be blasted away again by Frak's boulder. he was blown towards another boulder whose shockwaves threw him back towards the other boulder, so that he was flung away again by the shockwaves. as much as I wanted revenge, I couldn't leave him to die from the shockwaves. I leapt towards one of the boulders, slashing and stabbing at it. the boulder broke, and I leapt to the other boulder. I slashed at it until it was broken, too. then I ran to see Frak. "hey, Frak," I said, regarding him as though we had played ping pong a day ago, not 7 years ago. "Zenith!" he cried. before we continue our conversation, I heard a sound like a massive hammer being drawn. as I watched, the horizon began to grow. when it reached the height of 70 billion salesforce towers stacked on top of each other, I realized that I was looking at a giant human larger than Mount Everest. "hello! I am Shatterfist, the Elemental Master Of Size! And I've come to warn you about the giant king!"
Chapter 5: I Meet A Not-Giant
the first thing I heard was my friends screaming, "ahh! a human bigger than the sun!" and pyxathor roaring. I heard a tiny clink that I assumed was Pyxathor's sword. "wow, that's not very nice," said the giant. "well, I guess that's what most people do when they see me." "I'm sorry, but did you say you're the elemental master of Size?" I asked. I'd had quite enough dealings with new elemental masters, and this guy was going to be a problem. "yup! I can grow and shrink at will!" said the giant human. "this is going to be fun," I muttered. "what about a giant king?" "he commands all the giants. he is the smartest, must ruthless ice giant ever to live; he is Thrym!" "how do we find this 'Thrym'? I'm guessing that he isn't living in that palace over there." I pointed to a black palace full of sharp angles and shadows. "no, he isn't there," said Shatterfist. "that's the land of the dead." "that's where we're supposed to go! our friends are in there!" "sorry, tiny human. I'm the sentinel of that place. I'm not supposed to let anyone out or in who hasn't died. though if you were to best me in single combat, tiny human, I would let you through." "then give me a piece of your armor and let me fight you." Shatterfist thought for a moment and unhooked one of his shoulder pads. it was taller than me. "I'm sorry, but I don't accept armor made of styrofoam. I guess I'll have to destroy it." I took out the Reflex Blade. I pressed the tip to the metal. it was thicker than a castle wall. smoke started to rise from the metal as I pushed my sword through as though it was made of water. within a few minutes I had reduced the shoulder pad to a melted slag heap. "I can't fight that," said Shatterfist finally. "all right, tiny being, I'll let you through." "thanks," I said. "hey, I think you should join our team. we could use a giant stomping machine on our side." "sure," the giant said agreeably. I turned, and I saw a Munce. she had prominent lower canines and blue hands. in fact, the top half of her face was the brightest of blues. it looked like water that had been doused in gasoline and set on fire. she had bubbles around her hands. and I mean bubbles of water encircling her fists. "Shatterfist!" she bellowed. "what are you doing, letting living children into the land of the dead!? you're fired!"
Chapter 6: Who Knew Bubbles Could Be Deadly?
"NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!" screamed Shatterfist. "I need those soul coins! they're worth 5,000,000,000 Jotunheim Dollars each!" he drew a massive hammer that looked like it was not used for whack-a-mole. I knew I had to act fast. I somersaulted in between the two co-workers and sliced the hammer head right off Shatterfist's hammer. "WHAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!" wailed Shatterfist. I had another instinct guide me. I channeled my power outwards in an explosion of Reflexive reactions. everyone's weapons – even the polished iron hammer handle that Shatterfist was holding – were ripped from their hands and blasted off into space. "no one is firing anyone! we are going to sit down and have a chat about what the helheim is going on! with no powers!" "ha! and what if we want to use our powers?" said the Munce incredulously. "than you're going to have a lot move than your weapons blown off you," I snapped. and so we sat down in a circle. Shatterfist shrank down to his usual size; just over ogre proportions. Pyxathor grumbled about having to give up his sword. Tetsuo tried to claim that his staff wasn't a weapon. "it's a walking stick! not a staff!" he kept insisting. in the end, I used my sword to wrestle it away from him. the rest of us had no weapons to give up. I tried to give my sword away, but I couldn't let go of it. whenever I tried, it reappeared in my scabbard. when I tried to give my scabbard away, it just teleported back to my side. and so it was. "so! I know some of us haven't met before, so let's do intros first. I'll go first. I'm Zenith, master of Reflex. I'm 15 years old, and my favorite food is granola. Rockslide, you're up." "hi. I'm Rockslide, master of Spin, my favorite food is jello." "hello. I am Grumsha, master of Surface Tension, which means I can generate bubbles, and my favorite food is Carnivorous Meatpies." across from her, Shatterfist snickered. "carnivorous meatpies. what a joke." I glared Reflex Blades at him. that's when I learned that Munce have great hearing. Grumsha roared and blasted a barrage of bubbles at him. Rockslide dove out of the way, but Pyxathor, who was sitting next to him, got a full blast of bubbles in the face. "AFBLFBLFBLE!" he yelled, accidentally scratching Shatterfist in the process. Shatterfist let out a roar that shook the bones of the ground. he instantly ballooned up to 5 times his size. Frak, Tetsuo, and I looked at each other. we scattered. I slashed through the iron cage where we were keeping our weapons. I threw Tetsuo his staff, only for it to be flung away by a timely dagger. "oh, no, you can't break up this fight yet." I whirled around and saw Grumsha glaring at me. she threw another dagger at Shatterfist, and it got him in the forehead. he roared and barreled forward, smashing everything in his way. I drew my sword, and Frak, Tetsuo, and I sprinted into the fray. the main battle was against Grumsha and Shatterfist. I ran towards the battle as fast as I could. suddenly, a thunderous sound ripped through the ground, like bones cracking. suddenly, an army of Skullfolk charged over a hill.
Chapter 7: Hello, Skeleton Army. Wow, An Elemental Master. What News.
I almost couldn't believe it. a new Elemental Master, I guessed. but of what element? armies? at any rate, things were about to get very crowded, very soon. as the skeletons charged down the hill like a wave of death, I noticed that one of them was leading the charge. he was wearing black armor and carrying strange sword. everyone stopped fighting and looked up at the army descending upon us. I felt that weird instinct that I felt when I slashed the giant. I ran towards it and raised my sword. the sonic blast that followed threw the army and my friends back. without saying anything, the Skullfolk army closed ranks, creating a wall of bone shields made from the iron-coated bones of giants. one of the Skullfolk warriors stepped outside the wall. he was the one who was leading the charge. "we have seen you fight. we have been watching you. I have decided to join you." he did something odd. all the Skullfolk warriors were absorbed into him. "I am the Elemental Master Of Figment." then, the sky darkened. a beam of dark light touched down from said sky and struck a hill nearby. moaning sounds came from the hill. a secret door slid open, and undead snakefolk poured out. "as I feared. the scourge of the undead is upon us," said the Skullfolk. he turned to me. "come with me. it's time to join The Pack."